Ghosts of the Future
by onakracivaya23
Summary: AU After the battles in the Feudal Era are over, Kagome goes to America for college, but sees some extremely familiar faces when she gets there. Rating will go up as the story continues. SessKag (kinda)
1. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: So, I don't own our favorite Hanyou...but I wish I did...although...if I had the choice...I think I'd take Sesshy over Inu...*sighs dreamily*  
  
Even over the music of her mp3 player, she could still hear the roar of the airplane engines. She was so sick of being on a plane. She knew before she got on the plane that it would be the longest trip she had ever taken, but she didn't know that she'd get airsick.  
  
"Attention passengers, the captain will soon be turning on the seatbelt sign to indicate our decent into Los Angeles, California. Current weather conditions are 76 degrees and partly cloudy. If you are transferring to another flight from here, please check with the attendant at the desk when we arrive to find out the gate of your next departure. I want to thank you on behalf of our crew for choosing to fly Continental and hope that you will choose us again for your transportation needs."  
  
Inwardly, she groaned. She had already been on a plane for almost an entire day. She had heard that Tokyo to Los Angeles was one of the longest flights on the planet, and she hoped that it was. She couldn't imagine sitting on a plane for much longer than she had been already. She tired to think of the businessmen who flew in and out of her former home everyday and the thought of making this kind of trip on a regular basis made her stomach turn. She decided to think of something else instead. She looked out the window, but all she could see was clouds; they were still too high up to see the ground yet. She could see her reflection, too.  
  
She eyed her reflection in the window. She had tied her long dark hair back into a ponytail before she had left home that morning, but now it was starting to fall. She reached into her carry-on bag that was sitting at her feet and pulled out her hairbrush and a hand mirror. Then using what little room she had, she pulled the hair-tie out of her hair and attempt to brush out her long ebony locks. She had thought about getting them cut before she left for college. Short hair was supposed to be all the rage in America this year, but she couldn't bring herself to do it after she'd worked so hard to get it as long as it was. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her aqua eyes staring back at her. She made a face and closed the compact. She normally prided herself on looking good at all times. But she didn't think anyone would blame her after her trip.  
  
'Only one more flight after this one, Kagome. You're almost to your new home.' She thought to herself.  
  
After eleven hours on the plane already, the last 45 minutes or so felt like nothing to her. She just sat back and tried to sleep. Finally the plane landed. She grabbed her backpack, threw it over her shoulders and left the plane. After she got off the plane, she went to the desk, found her new departure time and gate and soon she was back to being thousands of feet in the air - once again counting down the minutes until she would have both feet on the ground again.  
  
'Why, oh why, did I have to choose a school so far away...?' She kept thinking throughout the entire flight. But as her second plane started it's descent into O'Hare airport, she glanced out the window and saw the Chicago skyline. 'Oh, that's why...' She couldn't help thinking.  
  
From the airport, it was nothing else but a short taxi ride to Evanston, IL and she was finally in her new home. 'Northwestern University, here I am!' Kagome thought as she entered her dorm.  
  
As she walked in she looked around and saw a variety of people standing in the lobby of the dorm. Most looked pretty ordinary, but long white hair caught her eyes from near the door as she walked.  
  
"Inu..." She began, but she was watching the man so intently that she completely forgot to look where she was going, and walked right into someone.  
  
"Unf!" She said, and took a step backwards to attempt to regain her balance. But her bags threw her off and before she realized what was happening, she was sitting on the floor, one bag on one side, her backpack behind her. "Oh! Ouch!"  
  
She looked up to see what, or who, she had run into and looked straight into large green eyes. It took her a second to pull her eyes away, and look at the rest of the face of the boy she had just collided with. Short black hair, green eyes, pale skin, tall, thin, but not too thin...Kagome started summing up the boy with short phrases in her head.  
  
"Um, you should really watch where you're going, particularly in a room like this one. There are always people walking around." The boy said his voice easy and smooth.  
  
"Uh huh..." Kagome nodded absentmindedly, still taken aback by the boy's appearance. He was wearing a green polo shirt with white and blue stripes across the chest. It just seemed to make his eyes even greener.  
  
"Here, let me help you up." He said, and extended a hand to Kagome. "I'm Mitchell, by the way. You are?"  
  
"Oh! I'm Kagome." While she said that, Kagome flashed him one of her best smiles. "Sorry, I just got off a plane, so I'm a little out of it." It sounded plausible. Besides, she couldn't really explain to a stranger that she was distracted by a guy who looked like her half-demon ex-boyfriend. She was she that was the best way to make new friends.  
  
"Oh, that's ok! Do you want help with your bags? I can take one of them for you if you'd like. Do you know where your room is?" The boy gave Kagome a sideways glance. She could tell her was checking her out, but didn't want to be obvious about it. She smiled her to herself. Maybe coming all the way to Chicago would be better than she thought.  
  
"Um, yeah. It's in my notebook in my backpack. Here, if you can take this one, I'll get it out and look." Kagome said, and she handed Mitchell the duffel bag from over her left shoulder.  
  
"Unf!" Mitchell groaned as he took the bag from her. "What have you got in this thing, bricks?" He asked her, grinning.  
  
Kagome looked at him apologetically. "Oh! I'm sorry, is it really that heavy? I've been carrying it so long that I don't even notice anymore..." She lied easily, but thought to herself 'I guess after carrying around heavy bags so often in the feudal era, I don't even notice anymore...'  
  
"Don't worry about it, it's not so bad once you get used to it." Mitchell responded.  
  
As they spoke, Kagome pulled her arm out of one shoulder of her backpack and pulled it around to the front of her. Then she pulled out a notebook and opened it to the front page. "It says that I'm on the 3rd floor. Room 309." She read.  
  
"That's not too bad - taking the stairs when the elevator breaks won't even kill you." He said, grinning again. "But I think we should take the elevator this time, anyway. Do you have anything else?"  
  
"I don't think so. Most of the rest of my stuff is being shipped here." Kagome responded.  
  
"Cool. Where are you from?" He asked as he pressed the elevator button.  
  
"Oh, I'm moving here from Japan. I lived in a suburb of Tokyo." She replied, and as she did the elevator dinged and they stepped in. Mitchell pressed the button for the third floor, and the doors closed.  
  
"Wow! That's awesome! I'm from Boston. What's it like in Japan? I've always wanted to visit, but never could." Mitchell continued to question Kagome and they chatted easily for the rest of the elevator ride. He then helped her get her stuff to her room and left her his room number and telephone number "...in case you ever need anything," he had said.  
  
Kagome walked into her new room and looked around. Her roommate wasn't there yet, and neither was any of her stuff. She groaned inwardly. She was glad she had packed her sheets and a couple changes of clothes into the duffel bag. She went to work putting away her stuff and making her bed.  
  
Once all the stuff she had brought was put away, her bed was made, and she was in fresh clothes, with her hair brushed and put up in a nice ponytail, she decided that it was time to explore the campus a bit.  
  
She walked to the elevator, pressed the button and waited for it to arrive. When it got there, she stepped in and pressed 'L' for lobby, then waited for the door to shut. Just as the doors were shutting, she saw a glimpse of someone as the walked by, someone with long white hair... She did a double- take. Did she just see him again?  
  
A/N: So this is just for fun, I was listening to music today and was inspired by a story idea. Hope you like it. R/R. 


	2. Familiar Faces in New Places

Disclaimer: You know the drill, Dogboy = not mine. *sigh*  
  
'Gods, I heard lack of sleep can make you see things, but this is getting ridiculous!' Kagome thought, shaking her head. She brought her hands up and rubbed her eyes vigorously. 'Hopefully, that will be the last of seeing things that I'll have for one day.'  
  
As she thought that, the elevator doors reopened on the first floor and Kagome stepped out into the lobby of her dorm. She looked cautiously around the lobby, hoping to see a friendly face. But everyone in the lobby seemed to be caught up in conversation with someone else or too engrossed in a book or some other work to be disturbed. But then Kagome saw an older girl sitting on one side of the room. The girl had her hair tied back behind her head and was wearing a white wrap around shirt with a v-neck that tied in the back and red linen pants. She had a book in front of her, but seemed to be looking around for something to distract herself with. Kagome walked over to her.  
  
"Hi. My name is Kagome, and I was wondering if you might be able to help me. You see, I just arrived here in Chicago and I wanted to explore the city some. But I don't know where to start. Could you recommend a good park or museum that I could visit?" Kagome smiled her friendliest smile and tried to sound as inviting as possible.  
  
"Oh! Hi! I'm Katie. Oh, yeah. You just got here? I can definitely tell you some great places to see. I'm from the city, so I know all the best spots!" The girl said, winking at Kagome as she said the last sentence.  
  
Kagome grinned back at the girl. She liked this girl already. But she seemed to have an odd resemblance to someone. Somehow she felt like she knew the girl already, but she couldn't place her finger on who the girl reminded her of.  
  
"Are you going by yourself? You know, it's not exactly the safest idea to go wandering around the city by yourself. Besides, it's going to be dark in just a few hours. But you know what, I could show you! Would you like some company to go around the city? I'll be the best free tour guide you'll ever have..." The girl beamed at Kagome, and Kagome knew she had just made a great new friend.  
  
"Sure! That'd be great! I don't know anyone here yet, so I'm kind of nervous still. Where do you suggest we go first?" As Kagome spoke, Katie packed her books into her backpack, put it over her shoulders and stood up from the chair she was sitting in.  
  
"My room is just around the corner. I'm the RA for the first floor. Let me drop off this heavy bag there and then we'll go?" Katie was already walking toward her room as she spoke.  
  
"Sure. The RA? What does that mean?" Kagome was new to college and she didn't know all the terms yet, but hopefully this Katie could explain some things to her – she hoped so. "RA – resident advisor. Every floor has one. We are kind of like the people in charge, but not really. We're more or less people who are here for you if you have a problem, or need help with things. And, throughout the year we'll do programs to help you learn more about other people in the building or about the school or things like that. Do you know who your RA is?" Katie explained as she unlocked the door to her room, walked in and placed her backpack on her bed. She then went over to the desk, opened a drawer and grabbed out several things including a wallet and a camera.  
  
"Um...not really? I didn't know that I had an RA." Kagome still had a slightly confused look on her face.  
  
"Oh! What floor do you live on?" Katie asked, leading Kagome back out of the room and into the hallway. She turned, locked her door and then began to lead them both back out to the lobby.  
  
"I live on the third floor. By the way, what's with all the sailboats and lobster decorations?" Kagome looked around, she felt like she had walked into a really cheesy New England restaurant.  
  
"Third floor – oh! You're RA is Seth. A bit of a strange guy – I don't think he's ever cut that hair of his. But at least he keeps it brushed..." Katie shrugged and got an expression on her face that could only have meant that she was getting a mental image of Seth as she spoke. "Hm...Anyway, oh, the decorations? The RA's all got together at the beginning of the year and we have each floor a theme. My theme is the "East Coast." You're floor should be the Wild West. So I'm surprised you didn't notice even crazier decorations there."  
  
"Hm. I didn't really look when I was coming in or leaving. I'll have to look later." Kagome tried to remember if she had noticed any decorations on her floor. She did remember that on the door to her room both her and her roommate's names were written out on construction paper cut to look like stars. She thought she saw a horseshoe hanging above the door too. But she didn't really pay that much attention.  
  
"So, how would you like to go to Lincoln Park? I'm majoring in botany, so the parks in the city are my favorite places to go." Katie looked at Kagome and waited for her answer.  
  
"Yeah, the park would be great! You're majoring in botany? That's really awesome. So do you know all the different kinds of plants and what they're used for and things like that?" Kagome wondered what kinds of things the girl knew; maybe she could add to the things she had already learned in the feudal era.  
  
"Well, I know some. I used to know a lot more, but lately I've had trouble remembering everything, there's just so much to learn!" Katie talked absentmindedly, listing off things about different plants that were native to the area as they walked toward the bus stop. Kagome listened carefully, seeing how much of what the girl said she already knew, and how much of it was new to her. Perhaps later, she'd have Katie explain some of the things in more detail.  
  
They had reached the bus stop and stood near it waiting when all the sudden a female voice shouted from a distance off.  
  
"Hey! Katie!" Katie must have recognized the voice because she turned around and began looking for the origin of the sound. Kagome just followed Katie's eyes until Katie eyes settled on another girl in the distance. She, like Katie, wore a white shirt and red pants, but her hair was long and dark and hung loose down her back. Kagome did a double-take for the third time that day. 'Kikyou?!? It can't be!'  
  
"Hey, Kiki. Do you need something? I'm going into town." Katie shouted back at her sister as she walked over to the two girls.  
  
'Kiki...but...there's no way!' Kagome thought. But as she finished her thought the girl reached the two of them.  
  
"Hey," She was a little flushed from rushing over to them, but was catching her breath quickly. "I just wanted to remind you that we have an RA meeting tonight at 9. Don't forget like you did last time! I really don't want to have to give another lecture. Or hear another one from Seth, for that matter."  
  
Katie rolled her eyes and sighed. "I won't forget! Oh, by the way, Kiki, this is Kagome. Kagome, this is Kiki, my sister." As she spoke, Katie motioned at each girl in turn.  
  
Kiki thrust her hand forward. "Hi! Nice to meet you! Are you new here?"  
  
Kagome was taken aback a bit, but slowly reached her hand forward to shake the girl's hand. "Hi! Nice to meet you, too. Yet, I just moved here from Japan."  
  
"Awesome! Well, I gotta run! But I'll see you around. And remember Katie, meeting tonight 9 pm!" And with that Kiki was off speed walking back towards the building where she had come from.  
  
As she walked away, it suddenly occurred to Kagome who Katie reminded her off – Kaede! Kagome just stared straight forward to avoid staring at the girl standing next to her. 'This day is just the weirdest! Could it get any stranger?' Kagome thought, just as the bus arrived. But as she was looking through her purse for change for the bus, she missed seeing a certain boy with long dark hair standing nearby watching her every movement.  
  
A/N: Well, this is Chapter 2. Hopefully it's a story worth reading! And if you're reading this, then leave me a little message telling me what you think of story! There's a little button at the bottom...Yeah! You got it! 


	3. Roommates and Rock Music

Disclaimer: So, I don't own Inuyasha, I'll let Kagome and Kikyou fight it out over ownership or our lovable mutt *grins*  
  
It was almost dark by the time the two girls got back to campus. They had been all over the city - well, as close as you can get to all over in six hours or so, anyway. Katie had taken Kagome to Lincoln Park, they had walked around downtown and went to the top of the Sears tower, taken a tourist trolley to museum campus and Katie pointed out Navy Pier from a bus and promised to take Kagome there on next Saturday when they had more time. Although, by the time they got off the last bus of the day and started walking from the bus stop back to their dorm, Kagome thought that if she never saw another bus or train, it would be too soon.  
  
Walking back, she turned to Katie, "Wow! That was great, but I had no idea it would be so complex getting around in Chicago! I'm so glad you came with me. I would have gotten completely lost!"  
  
Katie smiled at her new friend. "Yeah, Chicago can be a complicated city if you don't know your way around. I'm really glad I came with you too. You seem like a really cool person, we'll have to hang out more often. I'll introduce you to some of my friends later. By the way, do you know who your roommate is yet?" The two girls had been talking all afternoon and Kagome had learned a lot about college life, but Katie had forgotten to mention roommates.  
  
Kagome shook her head. "Nope. Not yet, she wasn't there when I got here this morning. Her stuff wasn't even moved in yet, and I don't know anything about her expect that he name is Sandra; at least, that's what it said on the door. I really hope she's nice." After traveling with Inuyasha, Kagome figured that she could get along with anyone, but she didn't know anything about American girls. She was worried that her roommate might end up being impossible to live with or hating her. She had done her best not to think about it through the day though. She would worry about her roommate later.  
  
"I'm sure everything will be fine!" Katie said as they re-entered their dorm. "Well, Kagome, it's been great hanging out with you today! But I have to run to that RA meeting my sister mentioned earlier. But here, let me give you my phone number, call me sometime and we'll watch a movie or something!" She grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen off a nearby table and quickly scratched down her telephone number, handing the piece of paper to Kagome.  
  
"Good luck with your roommate! Don't worry too much. Oh! Btw, I meant to tell you earlier, tonight at 10:30 every floor has a mandatory meeting with their RA's in the floor lounge to get introduced and go over to general things. Make sure that you go!" And with those words, she was off towards her room. Kagome looked at her watch- 8:58. She hoped that Katie's RA meeting would be close to their dorm, because she was definitely going to be late otherwise.  
  
Kagome walked over to the elevator and pressed the button going up, and when it arrived stepped in and pressed three. She was still not comfortable in this new place, but she could see herself getting there over time. 'Katie seems like a really awesome person, I really hope we get to spend more time together. It's so weird how much she is like Kaede though. And having a sister that looks like Kikyou named Kiki! That's got to be more than just coincidence. Maybe I'll send an e-mail to my mom later once I get back to my room and see if she has anything to say about it.' Kagome thought back on her day as the elevator went up to the third floor.  
  
Just as the elevator reached the third floor, Kagome yawned and it suddenly hit her how tired she was. 'Wow! I'm exhausted! If I set my alarm, maybe I'll have time for a nap before I go to this floor meeting thing that Katie mentioned.' Kagome was calculating in her head just how much time she would have for napping before the meeting when she suddenly heard the loud chords of a guitar followed by a the chorus of a pretty well-known Japanese rock song, both of which were coming from her bedroom.  
  
She slowly opened the door to find a tall, thin, Asian-looking girl jumping about their bedroom pretending to play guitar on an imaginary instrument.  
  
"Hello. I'm Kagome." Kagome couldn't even hear her own voice over the loud music, so she tried again. "HELLO?!" She shouted. But the girl didn't seem to hear her. Instead, it was the door as it slammed behind Kagome that startled her.  
  
"Oh! HEY!" She shouted above the sound of them music. She walked over to her stereo and turned down the volume so that Kagome could hear again. "You must be Kagome! I'm Sandra!" The girl was wearing tight black pants, and a long sleeved black shirt, over that she wore a loose hot-pink shirt tied at the waist with a black belt. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail high on her head with a ribbon in the same color pink as her shirt. She looked like she had just walked off a rock and roll stage from the 80's.  
  
"Do you like The Pillows? I absolutely adore their music!" Sandra asked, still breathless from finishing her performance.  
  
"Um...yeah, The Pillows are pretty good..." Kagome hesitantly replied. She didn't know how to respond to this girl. Kagome did know The Pillows music, but she wasn't really a big rock fan herself. She listened to pop music a lot more. Regardless, she didn't want a roommate who was going to make her deaf every time she walked into the room, whether it was rock or pop music.  
  
"Pretty good?! Ha! They are the best! She got up and started playing her air guitar again while humming the tune to the song that was just playing. After a minute, she stopped and turned to Kagome again. "Did you get here this morning?"  
  
"Um, yeah. I flew from Tokyo." Kagome responded. This girl still scared her a little bit. And she began to wonder if she would ever get any sleep in their room. "Awesome! I've never been to Tokyo, always wanted to go though. When my family goes, we always go to Okinawa because that's where our family lives. I always want to go to the big cities, but we never have time. You're Japanese, then?" Sandra bounced all over the room as she spoke, never staying in just one place for more than just a few minutes, it was making Kagome dizzy trying to watch her as she moved.  
  
"Yeah, my family lives outside of Tokyo. You're Japanese too? I thought from your name..." Kagome let her voice trail off. She felt bad that she had assumed things about her roommate, now that she had met her.  
  
"Yeah, most people don't expect me to be Asian. My parents are both Japanese, but I was born here. My mom named me Sandra so that I would have an American name, but she wanted it to be close to the Japanese name my father wanted to give me. He wanted to name me Sango, something about it being a family name passed down from generations ago when my great-great- great grandmother and her brother were the only surviving members of a village of demon slayers who were killed over some sacred jewel...whatever...like Demons ever really existed." She rolled her eyes as she spoke. Kagome had to think not to let her jaw drop as Sandra told her version of the story.  
  
'So this is Sango's great-great-great-great granddaughter? This is getting to be too much. Who will I run into next? Miroku?!' Kagome was getting a bit overwhelmed by all of these coincidences. Why were all of these people showing up around her?  
  
"Oh, hey Kagome, my boyfriend, Mike, said that he'd stop by later tonight, is there any way that you could go read in the lounge or something for a couple hours while he's here? Normally, I won't ask, but we haven't seen each other in a few weeks, so I'd really like some alone time with him, if you know what I mean." With her last few words, Sandra made some hand gestures that Kagome didn't understand the meanings on, but she knew better than to ask. Besides, she wasn't she if she wanted to know.  
  
"Um...Well, I was planning on going to bed right after the floor meeting..." Kagome started, but before she could finish her thought, Sandra interrupted her.  
  
"Please, Kagome! Just this once, I promise that I won't ask often but I really want some time with him. I'll keep it short, just one hour? Pleeease!" Sandra pleaded with Kagome. As she begged, she came over and grabbed both of Kagome's hands, grabbing them and shaking them slightly as she implored her new roommate.  
  
Kagome was a little annoyed, but gave in. "Alright, but if I'm going to go to bed later then, can I take a nap now so that I won't be as tired?"  
  
"Oh yeah, that's fine. Have fun with that! And THANK YOU SOO MUCH! You have no idea how much this means to me! Oh, you'll have to meet Mike when he gets here though, I think you'll like him – I do!" She said grinning.  
  
Kagome just walked over to her bed and collapsed on to it. She was so tired from her day. It had been a long day; even she had to admit it. She really hoped that she would be able to wake up in time for the meeting. She felt like she could sleep for a thousand years.  
  
A/N: So, I hope someone is reading this. Because no one has said anything... Please R/R. I'd love to know what you guys think of the story! 


	4. An Ominous Meeting

Disclaimer: So, Kouga and Inuyasha both try to claim Kagome, Kagome and Kikyou fight over Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku...well I'm not even going to go there. And unfortunately, I don't have any claim over any of them. pouts Oh well, maybe in my next life...grins  
  
Kagome slowly opened her eyes. She felt like she had been sleeping for hours although she knew it couldn't have been that long because it was dark in the room and she couldn't see anything out the windows.  
  
Stumbling in the dark, Kagome slowly climbed out of the bed and stood in the room. She squinted, trying to make out something in the room to get her bearings. She looked for a light switch or lamp. Feeling her way along the walls she felt nothing but the smooth plaster of the walls, no light switch.  
  
'Where's Sandra?' She wondered to herself. She had thought that her roommate would wake her for the floor meeting before she left herself. 'Besides, wasn't her boyfriend supposed to come by? Did she just not bother to wake me up while he was here?!' She thought, more than a little annoyed at the thought.  
  
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a small line of light along the floor on one side of the room. She cautiously walked toward it – she wasn't used to the room yet and didn't want to trip over anything. As she reached the light, she felt along the wall and felt the doorknob. Slowly, she turned it and pulled the door. It felt heavier than she remembered it being when she had come in earlier. 'I must not have gotten all my strength back yet, since I just woke up. This door feels like it's made of lead!' She thought and pulled hard on the door.  
  
When the door came open, Kagome was suddenly covered by the bright light of the hallway. Covering her eyes with her hands so that her eyes could adjust some, she stepped out into the hallway. She looked around; there was no one in sight.  
  
'Well, it's definitely bright out here!' She thought, gradually uncovered her face as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the hallway. 'I wonder what time it is. It sure seems dead around here; even if it is late, you'd think there'd be someone around...'  
  
She looked down at her watch. The digital numbers said something along the lines of two in the afternoon and the date was wrong as well. 'Damn!' She thought. 'I forgot to reset it to the right time zone after I got on the plane this morning; it's still set on Tokyo time. I wonder if there's a clock in the room...maybe if I prop the door open...'  
  
She slowly reached behind her to grab the door but it had already shut tightly. She tried to push it back open again, hoping to shine some light from the hall into her room and find another light inside, but found the door shut too tightly to reopen; it almost appeared as if it had been locked as soon as she left the room. 'But that's not possible!' thought Kagome with surprise!  
  
She decided to investigate later, and began slowly walking down the hallway looking for anyone she might know. There appeared to be a room at the end of the hallway, but the lights in the room flickered. 'You'd think they'd have replaced the light bulbs before the students arrived...' Kagome thought, shaking her head slightly.  
  
She wandered into the room, still looking around. The room seemed to be empty, save a couple of arm chairs and table in the center of the room. Some stiff looking chairs lined the table. One of the chairs was turned away from the room, toward a corner of the room with a small light.  
  
'How odd...' thought Kagome. 'I wonder why that chair is turned that way. Doesn't seem like it would be very nice not to be able to see the rest of the room like that...'  
  
She walked over to the chair, thinking to turn it around so that it faced the center of the room like the others. She neared the chair, but when she was just feet away from it, a voice suddenly came from it.  
  
"Nice for you to join me, Kagome. I was wondering when you would bother yourself to show up." The deep voice resonated in the silent room.  
  
Kagome thought hard, trying to place the voice. 'Do I know this person? Their voice doesn't sound familiar, but they certainly seem to know me...'  
  
"Aw, Kagome! I'm hurt! You don't know me at all, do you?" The voice sounded offended, but the menacing tone still remained. The person in the chair sighed disappointedly. "Oh well, I don't suppose you would recognize me so quickly...you wouldn't really be expecting me to show up here, would you. I guess I'll have to remind you a bit, won't I?"  
  
Suddenly, Kagome felt the ground fall from under her feet. She looked down to find herself hovering several feet above the ground. But, before she could fully comprehend the situation, she was thrown across the room and into wall furthest from where she had stood. She hit it with a thud, and felt her breath leave her chest.  
  
She gasped for air, but found the wind knocked out of her. She slid down the wall and looked frantically around, the room beginning to swim in and out of focus. Her lungs where beginning to burn from lack of oxygen. Then, suddenly, she found she could breathe again. She gulped down air; the rush of cold filling her lungs and tasting to her like there could be nothing sweeter. It was at that point that she could suddenly feel the sharp pains in her body. Her back stung from slamming into the wall, and as she had fallen after hitting, she had twisted her ankle underneath her and it now ached painfully.  
  
She looked over at the chair, still swallowing as much air as her lungs could hold. "Who are you?!" She shouted, anger filling her voice as tears stung her eyes.  
  
"All in due time, my dear Kagome!" The voice chided, "Have you no patience at all?" The owner of the voice mocked her coldly, and Kagome could feel the warmth of a tear as it slid down her cheek. She brushed it away and took another deep breath, moving slowly in an attempt to untangle her now painful limbs.  
  
"Uncomfortable, are we?" The voice asked ominously, "I wouldn't want my guest of honor to be uncomfortable, now would I..." he continued on sarcastically.  
  
Once again, Kagome found herself lifted off the ground and floating in the air by some unknown power. She tried to move but found herself frozen, unable to move more than a half an inch before her strength gave out and she was forced back into the position she had been in before. She opened her mouth to scream, to call for help, anything. Someone else on the floor was bound her hear her cries. But, no sound came. It was at this point that she began to panic. She was completely at the whim of the madman sitting in the turned chair on the other side of the room.  
  
She found herself flung across the room, just as before. Kagome prepared herself for the strike, but it never came. She found herself lowered into an armchair near the wall that she had just hit. She breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" The voice from the chair asked her condescendingly.  
  
"What do you want from me?!" Kagome asked, her voice broke as she tried to block back her tears. The voice merely chuckled in response.  
  
"Oh Kagome, are you really that gullible? I thought you were smarter than that. Did you really think that I was dead? Me?! I could never be killed that easily." She was given just enough information to confuse her even more. There was something eerily familiar about the man, but as hard as she thought she couldn't seem to put two and two together. "Think, girl! You aren't really this stupid, are you? Are you, Kagome? Kagome?"  
  
The man was using his powers to shake her as he yelled her name.  
  
"Kagome! Kagome!" Slowly, the man's voice dissolved into a softer, more feminine voice. The shaking was less harsh. Kagome could feel two hands on her, one of each of her shoulders, shaking her softly. She opened her eyes to find Sandra leaning over her, trying to wake her.  
  
"Kagome?! Wake up! Are you okay? You were screaming in your sleep! I couldn't get you to wake up you were shouting something about someone wanting something from you. Is everything okay?" Kagome could see lines of worry on Sandra's face as she questioned Kagome nervously.  
  
"Nani? Where am I? It wasn't real? Oh thank god." Sandra just looked at Kagome with slightly more perplexed look as Kagome propped herself up in the bed and looked frantically around the room.  
  
"You know, it's a good thing I speak Japanese, or else I wouldn't have understood a word you just said. Kagome thought for a moment, and then realized that she must have been speaking in Japanese without thinking.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry." Kagome said, switching back into English. "I was having a nightmare." 'But it was so real...' she thought to herself.  
  
"Well," said Sandra, "It's time to go to the floor meeting. You'd better get up or you'll be late." Sandra looked in the mirror to check her hair one last time and then exited the room.  
  
A/N: Well, it's been awhile, but I'm back now. I don't know how many of you are reading, but those of you that are, I hope you like. It should get a little more exciting from here on out. Don't forget to let me know what you think, I know you know how! R/R. .  
  
Miranda – Thanks! Hope you like the rest of the story as I write it!  
  
Avalone – Thanks to you too! As for who's next, well she still has to meet "Seth" her RA, right? Who could that be? grins And could that be Inuyasha she's been spotting? I don't know...have to read and find out. .  
  
Stripe – I was trying to make it a bit funny. A bit more comical at the beginning because it's going to get more serious as the story progresses, I did a decent job then? 


	5. Memories of the Past

Disclaimer: I do have a puppy dog, but his name is Bronx, not Inuyasha, or Sesshoumaru...so, sadly, I don't own them. But mine is very cute anyway!  
  
For a few minutes Kagome sat, still too stunned to move. She wasn't sure what had just happened. She looked around the room, trying to find something that would give her final answer one way or the other, but there was nothing.  
  
The first thing she did was scan the room for the light switches. It was on the left side of the door, about a foot and a half above where the door handle sits. She looked around for lamps or other light forms in the room. There was one floor lamp brought by Sandra, and each of them had brought a desk lamp which sat on their respective desks. She gave a sigh of relief.  
  
Kagome could feel herself relaxing again as she stretched her arms above her head and gave herself one last shake to kill the rest of the sleepiness that remained in her body. She still felt panicked though. She felt as though she was in a haunted house, waiting for a ghost to jump out from behind something and grab her at any moment. She hadn't felt this scared since...  
  
Well, she didn't want to think about that - she hadn't been to the feudal era in a long time and she would never go again. There was no sense in thinking about that anymore. Kagome couldn't help but feel a little of the loss she had felt back then before she had hopped into the well for the last time to return home.  
  
They had all gathered at the bone-eater's well – well, almost all of them. Inuyasha had disappeared a few weeks earlier. Kagome thought about the way they looked all standing together, she would never admit it, but she could feel Inuyasha's absence so strongly that it hurt more than anything else. She sat in bed remembering everything that happened that day and the few weeks before that.  
  
They had finally defeated Naraku. Well, defeated in the sense that after the battle was over there was no trace of Naraku, or any of his minions. It seemed to everyone that he was completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind to even mark his existence other than memories.  
  
However, in the process the Shikon no Tama had been completely destroyed. The group realizedd that its destruction was for the best in the end though. No more evil could come from it, and there was the assurance that another evil youkai like Naraku could never again come into so much power.  
  
Miroku's Kazaana closed up forever, so – as his first act as a whole man – he molested Sango with his completed hand for the first time, of course. Sango slapped him, with both of her hands in response. Then, to the surprise of everyone else, she threw her arms around him in a strong embrace. It hadn't taken long after the end of the battle to get everything back in order. Kohaku had been killed in the final battle, so Sango mourned his loss. This time, she had Miroku to turn to for a shoulder to cry on, however, so things weren't so hopeless.  
  
The entire group had sat down together after returning to Kaede's village to decide what they would do now. Sango and Miroku didn't know what they wanted to do next, exactly, only that they wanted to do it together. Kikyou had used the last of her strength and life in the final battle and was sucked into the Shikon no tama to destroy it, so Inuyasha no longer needed to search for her. He was also unsure of where to go next. Shippou would go wherever he was told to go. And that left only Kagome.  
  
Kagome. Inuyasha had pulled her aside the night after the battle and they sat alone in the dark forest. He said nothing at first, but continued to look over at her like he had something important that needed to be said. It was Kagome who finally ended the silence. "Inuyasha, is there something you wanted? I'm getting cold out here away from the fire, so if you don't have anything to say, I'd like to go back by the fire."  
  
Rather than saying a word, Inuyasha just pulled her into his arms and held her close. Kagome understood what he was trying to say, and decided that the mood was right this time to be silent. She curled up in his arms and soon the two of them had fallen sound asleep in the moodlight.  
  
But now, days after they had returned. It was Kagome who had the biggest decision of all to make. She couldn't really stay in the feudal era, she missed her home sometimes, and she missed her old friends. Her mom expected her to go back to school the following year. And she would have exams coming up. In a few short years, she would be going to college, and that meant that she would move away from the shrine. How often could she go to the feudal era if she couldn't go to the well everyday?  
  
She tried to talk to Inuyasha about coming to stay with her in the future. They got ten minutes into the conversation before they both realized that either of them staying in the others time permanently would never work. They also realized that asking one of them to go back and forth, or both of them to go back and forth would never work either. So now Kagome needed to decide. Try to give up everything she had at home and come live in the feudal era for good, despite the odds. Or give up the feudal era for good and go live normally at home. Maybe she could come back and visit on the weekends, though...  
  
Kagome talked to Sango and Kaede for long hours about what they thought she should do. She talked to Inuyasha about how he felt and what should be done, and finally she came to the conclusion that she had to go back to her own time for good. Maybe she would be able to come back and visit on occasion, or maybe he could come to visit her sometimes too. It would just be like visiting a far away friend. Everything would be alright in the end.  
  
So, Kagome prepared everything to leave for good. She said her goodbyes to Sango, Shippou, Miroku, Kaede. And then she went to find Inuyasha. After searching for awhile, she found him on a branch in Goshinboku. He was angry. She didn't understand.  
  
"Inuyasha, I am leaving for good. Don't you even want to say goodbye?" She was upset too. He was angry with her for leaving yet he knew she had to, and now he wouldn't even say goodbye. Kagome sat at the bottom of the tree for hours waiting for him to come down and say even a word to her. But he didn't. So she sat at the bottom of the tree and cried. She cried until she had fallen asleep, exhausted from all the emotions she felt. It was then that Inuyasha had jumped down from his branch and crouched at her feet, silently watching her tear stained face as she slept.  
  
He had leaned down to brush a spare hair from her face and as he did, he has whispered quietly, "You don't understand. I'm not angry with you. You are leaving to find a better life and you will only think of me as a memory. The memory of your first love...yet to me, I am losing the one person who taught me to trust and to love with all my heart. I am angry because I don't want to let you go, and I know that I have to." Then he had taken his rosary from around his neck and left it in her lap.  
  
She had lain there for a few minutes after he left, thinking about what he had just said. When he had brushed away the hair he had woken her up, but she lay there silent, pretending to be asleep so that she could hear what he had to say. She decided at that moment, as she sat there holding the rosary in her hands, that she would never forget Inuyasha and that she would come back every weekend to see him.  
  
But, what Kagome didn't know was that she would be trapped in her own time once she returned. She went back through the well that day and decided that she would go back in a few days once the weekend was there. But Saturday came and she went to the well, then jumped inside. Nothing happened. She sat in the bottom of the well and hit the sides and the bottom, but nothing happened. She climbed out and jumped in again, but she managed only to land wrong on her ankle, spraining it. Hours later, after Souta had come to help her out of the well, she was even more distraught.  
  
Kagome had lain on her bed for hours that night trying to solve the mystery of why she couldn't go through the well, when all of a sudden a thought dawned on her. 'The Shikon no Tama is destroyed. I'll never be able to go through the well again.' Kagome cried herself to sleep again that night and almost every night that week. She realized that she would never see anyone from the feudal era ever again. She felt like someone had taken her heart and torn it to pieces then handed it back to her.  
  
It took her months to get her life back in order, but eventually she did. Kagome sat in her bed thinking about all the ways her life had changed since those first few months after leaving the feudal era. She had moved on with her life and she was happy again for one of the first times since she left. She hoped that things would stay like this.  
  
"Kagome? Are you coming?!" Kagome jumped what felt like a foot off the bed when Sandra had suddenly stuck her head in the door to get her.  
  
Kagome thought a minute. "Coming where?" she asked.  
  
"To the floor meeting?" Saudra sounded slightly annoyed. "C'mon, everyone's waiting!"  
  
Kagome nodded, turned to put her feet on the floor, and stood up. Only to find herself lying flat on the floor.  
  
"Kagome?! Are you okay?" Sandra said through the half-open door.  
  
"I don't know..." Kagome managed in response. She tried to stand up again only to find that her left ankle would no longer hold her.  
  
So, sorry that it's taken me so long to update, I've been insanely busy and I had just a touch of something – not exactly writer's block more like writer's decision making woes...long story! But here's Chapter 5 anyway, hope you like!  
  
Gizmo369: Thanks for the review! Hope you like the rest.  
  
Trina3: I'm so excited to hear someone in the city likes the story! I lived in the suburbs for 3 years and visit as much as I can so I'm hoping to get things as close to right about the city as possible. Thanks for saying something!  
  
drow goddess: Thanks! I'm trying to build suspense, kind of...Is it working?  
  
Stripe: Thanks for the compliment! I wasn't really sure at first what I wanted from this story, so I'm hoping that's it's turning out okay! Glad to know that you like it! 


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